The reality of social media

Be pre-warned, I’ve been ill all weekend with a serious case of manflu and haven’t been able to get my usual fix of gym therapy and therefore I am being forced to let of steam in the form of some well articulated literature about social media (bold statement I know). Now, for those of you who don’t know me please feel free to check out my social pages (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, youtube) at @CallumMelly so you can get a feel for who I am and what I do as it will help you understand where I am coming from in this blog.

Social media is possibly the most manipulative form of propaganda ever created; it acts as a platform that allows people, including myself, to freely distribute pretty much anything to the general public. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for social media, in fact, I rely heavily on my social presence to engage with my clients, promote a healthy and balanced lifestyle as well as inspire and motivate others to get fit and healthy (he say’s). The issue I have and this is purely aimed at the health and fitness industry I work in, is every Tom, Dick and Harry these days is either a “fitness model”, “sponsored athlete”, “health expert” or “nutritionist” … apologies in advance but I’m going to say it how it is, what a load of bollocks!

Just because you have a topless airbrushed picture that your mate knocked up for you on photo-shop doesn’t make you a fitness model.

Oh cool, your dripping in NIKE and tag them in your instagram posts… but are you sponsored though?

Awesome fitness videos, great workout, but maybe if you had a personal training qualification you wouldn’t be posteriorly tilting your hips during those burpees and putting excess stress through your lumbar spine… oh wait you do? SHOCK.

Wow your acai berry morning porridge looks great… but what’s a macro?

I am so sick and tired of people churning out verbal diarrhoea on social media, offering bad advice, promoting false pretences and depicting a life that appears so perfect and glamorous that sadly others buy into. The most concerning thing of all is that this new era of “fitness influencers” have no idea they are doing anything wrong; in fact, there is actually a website now www.thefitnessinfluencer.com where you can get everything you need to become a “fitness influencer” overnight, from your book of lifestyle quotes, to your NIKE leggings, to your adobe photo-shop package and not forgetting your all black snap back. No but for real, remember, anything shared on social media unless backed up by some form of evidence is merely an opinion.

Take it from me, I’m not always happy and smiling as I appear on my social media pages, in fact, far from it after a life changing event took place this time last year and still to this day knocks me for six. I often have to put a brave face on so I can continue to do what I love, to help people get into the best physical and mental shape of their life, for life, to inspire and motivate people to be active and eat healthy, but most importantly, to educate people about the importance of leading an all encompassing healthy and balanced lifestyle.

So going back to the title of my blog “The reality of social media”, for those of you who either went and visited my social links as promoted in my opening paragraph or clicked on the non-existing www.thefitnessinfleuncer.com web link, let this be a lesson to how easy it is to influence someone to do something when they trust you. The irony is, I wasn’t even attempting to manipulate your decision, you just did so because you trust in me as a social influencer or purely out of curiosity, bottom line being that you did as I subconsciously requested, perhaps you even followed me 😉

So if you are going to take anything from this blog and as simple as it might sound, just take some time to do your own research before you buy into something, especially when it’s fitness related; just because the person selling it looks like they know what they are doing, doesn’t mean they actually practice what they’re selling themselves. As I always say, if you practice what you preach the results will talk for themselves.